On my own? Or perhaps not
by EcstasyOfSesshoumaru
Summary: Eponine did not return to the barricade after delivering the letter. She somehow ends up assisting a wealthy gentleman tend to a young man pulled from the Barricade half dead. Who is the young man you ask? Well R
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in her besides Matthius, and he's mine rawr! Les Mis isn't mine either, unfortunately. Enjoy the story!

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Eponine had not decided to go back to Marius after delivering the letter to Cosette's father. Her heart was too beaten and battered to face him. So Eponine had found a deserted alley and fallen asleep. It wasn't until morning that she heard what had happened at the Barricade. Worst of all, she had heard "No survivors" uttered from more than one pair of lips. Eponine was stunned, shocked at the news. Her Marius was gone? Eponine walked through the deserted streets, rain was pouring around her. Turning her face up at the sky Eponine allowed the rain to wash away her tears. She felt numb...

_Without him  
The world around me changes  
The trees are bare and everywhere  
The streets are full of strangers _

"Marius..." her whisper was long in the loud patter of the rain around her. Eponine's stomach made a loud grumble due to a few days without food. Eponine rubbed her cold aching hands together, and then placed them in her coat pockets. Cold metal touched her fingers, causing her to jump slightly. _Cosette's father..._She remembered the money she had been given for delivering the love letter from Marius. Cosette...even the name was enough to make her blood boil. Her jealousy had cause Eponine to place all the blame on the beautiful sweet girl that had captured her Marius's heart. She failed to notice that it was Marius and herself to blame for the pain she was feeling. Marius for being utterly blind to her obvious affection towards him, and her for loving someone who she could never be with.

_'Ponine _He used to fondly call her. She was brought back to reality. Her Marius was gone, fallen at the barricade along with countless others. Enjolras, their fearless leaded. No doubt Gavroche was among the dead. Grantaire, that drunken fool, so optimistic and full of life. Courfeyrac, Joly, Combferre, Lesgles, Jean Prouvaire, Feuill, everyone was dead...

Eponine had no idea as she was weeping in the rain that she was being watched from afar. Steel blue gray eyes held fast on her form, following her form as she weakly made her way to the closest inn, no doubt in search of something to break her fast. The form followed her, from a distance. It was a tall man, lean and finely dressed. He was a middle aged gentleman with gray streaked brown hair, short and sweeping away from his face in an elegant fashion. He had a beard that he wore in a neatly trimmed fashion. He was undoubtedly incredible handsome in his youth, even more so than he already was.

Matthius De Sauveterre was grateful when the girl entered the inn, he was getting soaked out in the rain. She was such a sad creature. He had caught a glimpse of her as he was returning home. He had been shocked too see such a young girl out by herself when it was still so dangerous to be out on the streets. Normally he may have passed by her without a thought, but the look of utter agony in her emerald eyes literally caused him to catch his breath and pause. The only conclusion he could come up with was that someone she had known and cared for had fallen at the barricade.

Those foolish boys committed suicide by fighting. They had a cause, and they had made their point, but where had it left them? In their graves, thats what. He himself had seen the battlefield. Matthius had hired a physician and a few handy men to accompany him in search of survivors. He had only just barely saved one. All others were dead. The sole survivor was currently residing in his house being nursed back to health. Matthuis shook his head and sighed softly. Snapping himself out of his thoughts he allowed himself to scan the crowd, he noticed that the young girl had been seated nearly out of sight by most eyes, no doubt it was so her presence did not discourage more genteel customers. Matthius flagged down a waiter and requested that he extend and invitation to dine to the young girl. He slipped a coin into the mans hand to ensure that he would do as asked.

Eponine's head shot up in surprise as one of the serving men came over and relayed the invitation. She gulped and stared at the man dumbly "Why does he want me?" she managed to croak out "Can be sure missus but he be a rich one thats to be sure" the man said in a tone that seemed to say that he thought her dumb if she didn't take up the offer. Curiousity got the better of her and she followed the server over to the gentleman. "I'm no whore Monsieur..." she said in a shaky voice as she took a seat across from him timidly. Normally she would have a lot more spunk, but Eponine never felt more weary in her life.

The man smiled a handsome smile. His smile was not mocking or cruel, and his eyes were kind and gentle, almost fatherly. "What is your name mademoiselle?" he asked in a deep baritone. She was a little skeptical, not knowing if she should trust him or not. "Come now miss, I will not harm you" he said reassuringly. "My name is Eponine Thenardier Monsieur...N-Now I think it proper you tell me your name" she summoned her courage to say. Another gently smile tugged at the corner of his lips "Matthius De Sauveterre at your service mademoiselle" The mans presence was very intimidating.

"Mademoiselle Eponine, I could not help noticing you weeping out on the street. Perchance was someone dear to you fighting at the barricade?" Eponine's heart made a painful jolt and she looked down at her filthy hands folded in her lap. A brief silence followed this before Matthius broke it "Forgive me for being to bold, but would you come live with me at my house?" Eponine jumped out of her seat and cried out loudly "Monsieur I am no whore!" she had tears in her eyes.

"No no...hush child, please take a seat. You misunderstand me" Matthius gestured for her to sit down, which she did reluctantly. "You are alone in the world are you not?" Eponine nodded, she was alone as far as she was concerned "I am alone as well, my darling wife died a year ago of influenza" he paused, closing his eyes tightly and took a shaky breath. "There is a young man I pulled from the barricade...and I am in need all the help I can get" He took a sip of the port he had ordered and then added afterwards "There is a shortage of help, and you seemed to be familiar with those young revolutionist from the way you gazed so mournfully in that direction"

Eponine's heart raced. Was it Marius? "He is recovering as we speak at my house and I will need help with tending to him. If you are able to identify him as well then we can put a name to his face. He has yet to wake up long enough to gather any information from hi

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m." Matthius watched her, awaiting her answer. Eponine licked her chapped lips to moisten them, her mouth all of a sudden felt dry and he seemed to have noticed because he soon had a server bring her a glass of port as well. Eponine had never had port, it wasn't something she could ever even dream of affording. She too a generous sip and gasped out then eyed the gentleman suspiciously "I want your word Monsieur, that if I do not like it there I have the right to leave by my own free will any time"

Matthius just smiled and nodded "But of course my child."

They departed after eating a little supper and returned to the gentleman's manor house. They were met by Agathe, the housekeeper. She was an older lady, plump and but pretty and kind. Matthius instructed her to get Mademoiselle Eponine cleaned up and in fresh clothing before she saw the patient. Needless to say he did not want to spread and of the germs from her dirty and grimy attire to spread to the sick young man.

It took a lot of convincing to get Eponine in the bathtub. Such things were foreign to her, she had used a washing basin when she was a little girl, but the steaming tub of scented water before her was incredible intimidating. After Agathe finally convinced her that they would not drown her Eponine was bathed, groomed, and clothed in a simple gray woolen frock that hung a bit loose on her starved frame. With a good washing Eponine's incredibly fair complexion and auburn locks were revealed. She had rather pretty features, a little fairylike right now due to the lack of nourishment.

Her beauty was not the same as the fair Cosette's but in a way it was quite equal to hers. She was strikingly beautiful. She had large emerald eyes that showed all the emotions she felt even if she tried to hide them, silky dark auburn hair that curled naturally when washed, surprisingly good teeth for a street urchin, full lips rosy lips and good bone structure. She was pale and sickly looking, but with proper nourishment that could be fixed. Eponine however was far too concerned about the young man from the barricade to even look at herself in the mirror.

_Marius_ was all she could think of. Her heart pounded in her chest at the prospect that it may be her sweet Marius. Matthius met her at the foot of the stairs and showed her down the hall to a room where the injured man had been placed. "Miraculously he has survive eight bullet wounds, he was found far away from the others, there was another man with him that was not so lucky." Matthius whispered softly to to her as he opened the door to the room. Eponine tried not to gasp just at the thought of eight bullet wounds. She nervously entered the room, hoping that it was her Marius, only to have her heart drop to her toes. The blond man in the bed was not her Marius. However, even as tears stung her eyes for the loss of her Marius, she could not be entirely sad, for the prince of the revolutionaries had survived...

"Enjolras..." she choked out a whisper. He looked weak, pale as death. Eponine's stomach twisted, the other man that did not make it must have been Grantaire. Her thoughts raced, Enjolras would not be happy when he awoke. He was alive and everyone else including her Marius...was dead.

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AN: Thoughts? Should I continue? How do you like it so far? I was going for some along the lines of an change to the end of Les Miserabled with a little Pygmalion mixed in. Review?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Les Mis blah blah blah

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Chapter 2:

Eponine managed to control her emotions enough that Matthius could not see her disappointment that the man was not who she had hope it would be. "A surgeon has already removed the bullets and the worse of the wounds have been sewn shut." The gentleman relayed to her. "You know this man" he watched her closely "Enjolras you called him" Eponine swallowed and nodded her head slowly "He is Enjolras, leader of the revolutionaries..." She took a shy step forward and reached out to brush some of the blood stained blond hair out of Enjolras's handsome face. Her heart thudded in her chest _My Marius..._

"I-I have to go!" she fled from the room, and soon afterwards she was running down the streets of Paris toward to barricade. She had to see with her own eyes that Marius was dead. Eponine never realized how difficult it was to run in a skirt, she fell a few times in the mud before she discovered the art of lifting up her skirts, and this still proved to be rather trying as she was wearing a low healed boot. Eponone made it to the barricade which she climbed over, in the process ripping the skirt of the dress.

She was startled once she was over the barricade, an array of bodies scattered all along the street. Eponine thoroughly searched the bodies, her hand covering her mouth to stifle her sobs. Her breath caught in her throat as she came across the body of little Gavroche, her brother. She searched everyone, and no Marius could be found. She came across a pair of body looters, picking the pockets of the dead students. Eponine had to swallow her anger, these were her friends that they were looting.

"Hello...do you know if there were any survivors?" she asked quietly at first and they did not seem to hear her._ Eponine you are strong, don't let this tragedy change you _She squared her shoulders "Hey! Did you see any survivors?" a dirty looking old man addressed her "Seen two, dunno if they be alive now though" _Two? Marius could be one of them _"One was carried off by a big man, strong as an ox he was. Genteel bred I thing. That was right after the last fight." Hope came to Eponine. "Another man came by, he had a doctor wiff 'em. They carried off another man who looked to be in much worse shape than the other"

"Thank you, thank you!" She handed the man the very money Cosette's father had paid her for delivering the letter. _Cosette's father... _The thought struck her. He was a large man, if he had read the letter perhaps. _Perhaps..._

Eponine returned to the house and she looked like a mess. Agathe fussed over her lecturing the young girl and in the end forced Eponine to take another bath. "Monsieur De Sauveterre wants me to take your measurements miss. Going to get you some dresses he is. 'O course you'll need some growing room, you're too skinny. Don't worry about that deary, we'll get some meat on your bones in no time." Agathe was running a brush through her hair as she soaked in a bath. "Monsieur De Sauveterre is a kind man. You right lot like his little Adele, had she been grown up. Poor deary died of the fever and right afterwards the missus passed on as well. Devastated Monsieur De Sauveterre that it did" She added lilac scented oils to the water and a bit more hot water.

"He's taken a liking to you no doubt because you remind him of his little girl." Agathe forced Eponine to dip her head into the water so that she could wash her hair. "Such pretty 'air, never would 'ave known under all that grime" Eponine remained silent as Agathe spoke, her thoughts were filled of the possibilities of her Marius being alive. He was probably under the care of Cosette, which bothered her immensely.

Agathe finished washing her hair and pulled the plug on the tub. Eponine stood and allowed the woman to dry her off and help her into a thin dressing gown. Eponine was shown to a large room that she supposed would be her room. "Take a seat deary and I will find another dress for you to change into...but please miss, don't be getting this one dirty" Eponine took a seat at the end of a huge bed. The room was decorated in light blue and white, with floral patterns. Agathe returned a few moments later with a long sleeved cream colored muslin dress with a faint blue floral pattern on it.

"Be gentle with this garment, it belonged to the Missus'" Eponine nodded as she ran her fingers over the material. Agathe helped her dress and pinned her hair up, she helped Eponine into the matching cream colored boots and laced them up. "It's a miracle that you are so close in size to the missus" Eponine stood and finally surveyed herself in the mirror and did not recognize herself in the slightest. "Monseiur De Sauveterre requests your presence down in the sitting room" Eponine looked around at all the fine things in the house as they headed down to the sitting room, oddly enough it hadn't even crossed her mind of taking any of the valuable items.

She could probably feed herself for months from the money she could get off of just one tiny china saucer. They finally descended the staircase and she was shown to the drawing room. Matthius stood abruptly and smiled widely at Eponine in a way that made her feel instantly shy. "Please have a seat" he spoke softly and gestured to the seat opposite him. Eponine sat down in the small chair opposite him and Mattius took his seat again. "Care for some tea?" he offered her a tiny white cup with pink roses hand painted delicately on the outside and the only thing Eponine could think of was _Cosette probably has tiny teacups like this, how would it feel in my rough hands. _She shook her head no claiming that she was not thirsty.

"The young man in the other room, do you know him well?" Eponine looked up from her hands and gave a little shrug "Not really Monsieur. Monsieur Marius always went to listen to him speak about the revolution and Patria..." She in all honesty had not paid attention to much else other than her dear Marius. She found herself studying the others the rare times Marius was not there, just enough to know little quirks about them, their character and stature amongst the group. In those short moments she found that Enjolras was the king of their little society.

"Monsieur Marius Pontmercy?" Matthius asked with a curious tone. Eponine's eyes gave it all away, Matthius guessed her feelings for him. Eponine was very bad at concealing her feelings for him. "Mademoiselle Eponine, I did not see Monsieur Marius amongst the fallen at the barricade" he sipped some tea and settled back in his chair a little "How do you know M. Pontmercy? May I ask?" he watched her carefully. Eponine stumbled over her words a bit "H-He's a good friend of mine." Matthius was no idiot, he knew the young girls background to an extent and he saw the look of pain and adoration in her eyes whenever Marius's name was mentioned. He therefore did not ask anymore questions.

They had a quiet dinner together and then retired for the night, the next day Matthius would have the physician train Eponine on the basics of nursing. Eponine felt suffocated in the soft cotton nightgown she wore. She fell into a fitful slumber.

The next few days flew by quite quickly. Enjolras's condition did not worsen, there were a few mights that he had a high fever and Eponine had to stay up with him to make sure it did not worsen. The man with the angelic face did not wake up once through this whole ordeal. He did not wake at all until the 4th day. Eponine was sitting by his bedside, bathing his forehead with a damp towel when Enjolras's eyes slowly fluttered opened. "Grantaire..." he mumbled out. His eyes seemed to focus after a moment and he looked up into Eponine's emerald eyes in confusion and disbelief.

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AN: R&R please


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